Ugandan activist fights for sexual minorities

NORTH TRURO — Pepe Julian Onziema came in from the cold Friday morning at the Shore Road house of his friend, documentary maker Tim McCarthy.

By MARY ANN BRAGG

capecodtimes.com

By MARY ANN BRAGG

Posted Jan. 7, 2013 at 2:00 AM

By MARY ANN BRAGG
Posted Jan. 7, 2013 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

NORTH TRURO — Pepe Julian Onziema came in from the cold Friday morning at the Shore Road house of his friend, documentary maker Tim McCarthy.

Onziema, 32, who is from Kampala, Uganda, was taking a break for a few days, he said, from the stress of being an activist for the rights of lesbians, gay men and bisexual, intersex and transgender people in his country. Today he will be among a half-dozen activists from Sexual Minorities Uganda to appear in U.S. District Court in Springfield.

Sexual Minorities Uganda, for which Onziema works as program director, filed a civil suit March 14, with the help of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, against Springfield-area minister Scott Lively.

The group charges that Lively has committed a crime against humanity of persecution, brought under the U.S. Alien Tort Statute. Specifically, the group says Lively has — since a visit to Uganda in 2002 — waged a campaign with like-minded Ugandans to persecute people in Uganda because of their gender, sexual orientation and gender identity. The lawsuit attempts to stop Lively's involvement in a "conspiracy to severely deprive people of their fundamental rights on the basis of their identity," and is not based on Lively's anti-gay speech or writings, according to the complaint.

Sexual Minorities Uganda is an umbrella organization for eight groups, each with about 30 people, who promote the rights of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, intersexuals and transgender people. Another dozen human rights groups, working on more general issues, are part of the umbrella organization as well, according to Onziema.

In response to the lawsuit, attorney Mathew Staver of Liberty Counsel, which is representing Lively, said Friday that Sexual Minorities Uganda is attempting to suppress free speech and that the Alien Tort Statute was designed to allow a nonresident to file suit in the U.S. for a claim such as might arise from an automobile accident.

Oral arguments on Lively's motion to dismiss the case is scheduled for 11 a.m.

"It would have a chilling effect on anyone's speech who is a U.S. citizen traveling abroad," Staver said. "Rev. Lively never advocated for what they allege."

Currently, homosexual practices, and specifically anal sex, are illegal in Uganda, based on laws dating from colonial times, according to Onziema. Lively's visits and activities in Uganda from 2002 through 2009, however, contributed to the introduction of an anti-homosexuality bill in Parliament in Uganda, according to the complaint. The bill proposed the death penalty for a second conviction of consensual sex between adults of the same gender, and imprisonment for failure to report on others suspected of being homosexual and for advocacy in any way on issues related to homosexuality.

So far the bill has not passed in Parliament.

"They're trying to strengthen what exists," Onziema said of Lively and leaders in Uganda who oppose gay rights. "They feel it's not enough."

Lively's work in 2009 in Uganda and his call to fight against what he called an evil, genocidal and pedophilic gay movement, according to the complaint, radically changed the attitude about gay rights in Uganda, Onziema said.

In 2010, a tabloid newspaper published an article about the sexual orientation of Sexual Minorities Uganda Advocacy Officer David Kato and others under the headline "Hang Them," according to the complaint. Four months later, Kato was beaten to death in his home, the complaint said.

In 2012, a private training session on human rights and public health conducted by the advocacy group was raided by Ugandan government officials, who declared the gathering illegal and those who were there terrorists, the complaint said.

"We're not going to keep having people come and brainwash our people who actually love us," Onziema said. Onziema came out as a lesbian at age 12, and in the past seven years has identified as a transgender man.

"We wanted to hold Scott Lively accountable," he said.

Sexual Minorities Uganda is seeking a jury trial. The group wants a judgment declaring Lively's actions illegal and in violation of international law and fundamental human rights, according to the complaint. The group is seeking compensation and punitive damages.

Accompanying Onziema in court today will be McCarthy and Provincetown resident Helen Ryde, a regional organizer for a nonprofit organization that works to promote understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues within the United Methodist faith. In Springfield, local gay rights activists are planning a rally at 11 a.m. today.

"I'm going to show my support for the LBGT community in Uganda and to be a representative of a Christian who does not subscribe to Scott Lively's interpretation of the Bible and what we should and should not be doing," Ryde said.